can't take my eyes off of you
by oldrival
Summary: the gang educates themselves about adhd & in the process pearl's totally tiny crush is almost found out


Chilled wind shakes the dark limbs of evergreen trees and rustles the thick undergrowth of Mt. Coronet. The hard, frozen dirt is covered in a couple inches of crunchy white snow. Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum's faces are lit by the orange glow of a tiny fire nestled deep in the sprawling forest of the mountains.

"Ow! Seriously, be more careful," Platinum yelps as Pearl attempts to braid her hair. Diamond doesn't even glance at them as he slowly stirs a pot of soup - stew - something of the nature over the embers. Platinum stares at her Pokétch, features bathed in a greenish glow.

"Dia, when's the food gonna be ready? I had like nothing to eat today," Pearl complains, "I'm starving."

Diamond peers into the pot. He closes his eyes and lets the fire warm his face. He sits back and looks at Pearl, "Should be soon. Like five more minutes, maybe."

Pearl huffs. He runs his fingers through Platinum's cobalt hair, undoing his - admittedly very bad - progress. He begins again, fingers catching on hair that really could use a wash. All the water on Mt. Coronet was ice, and the trio had left the last traces of civilization behind almost a week ago. Tragically Mt. Coronet was not home to many showers.

"Ow! Pearl, stop. Seriously," Platinum bats at him without looking away from her Pokétch.

"Nuh uh, I gotta finish this. You just keep crossing three pieces together, right?" Pearl asks nobody in particular, determined fingers fumbling about. Diamond looks at them both with a fond expression for a moment. Sighing deeply, he turns his attention to their dinner and carefully places the pot on the snow adjacent to the fire. He ladles out portions into plastic bowls he takes out of his bag. Setting two bowls in front of Platinum and Pearl he declares, "Okay, dig in. Any time now."

Platinum switches her Pokétch off and starts to eat. After a couple spoonfuls she smiles, soft and sincere, at Diamond, "This is great."

"Thank you," Diamond feels he has the right to be proud. Knowing Platinum's entitled and, well, spoiled nature, it's not often that she doles out praise. But meanwhile, Pearl hasn't taken a single bite.

"Pearl, you just said you were starving. Your food is getting cold. Y'know, it's probably already cold," Diamond says reproachfully. Platinum's brow furrows, "Yeah, it's kinda hard to eat when you're yanking my hair back there. Why don't you quit it and eat your dinner?"

Pearl huffs again and hastily ties the ends of Platinum's somewhat braided hair together with a ribbon. He shuffles in front of her on his knees, leaning forward to analyze his work from the opposite side. Pearl reaches out and tugs a few stands of hair from behind Platinum's ears to frame her face, and then attempts to fluff up the hair near her forehead.

"Pearl, what are you doing?" a confused and slightly annoyed expression decorates Platinum's face as she continues to eat.

Tongue peeking out from chapped lips, Pearl sits back to study his masterpiece.

"I know what's going on," Diamond speaks up as he watches Pearl watching Platinum who watches Pearl, "I was talking to my mom about this like, not even that long ago. She's in contest biz, right? She deals with crazy people. Artists, y'know. They're a little cuckoo sometimes. Pearl's got himself ADHD and my mom was telling me how there was this new study that said people with ADHD like, hyper-focus on stuff they like. And they're so focused on it and into it that they have a hard time "switching tasks", or whatever. This guy won't eat his dinner 'cuz he's too focused on you, Missy."

Pearl yanks his hands away from Platinum's face and snaps his head toward Diamond with a very appalled expression and suddenly very red cheeks, "What? M-Missy? Uh, no. I'm not- I'm not focused on Missy. What? What are you even talking about? Dude, you literally just made that up. Look, I'm eating right now."

Pearl quickly grabs his bowl from the snow and shovels the contents into his mouth as fast as he can, still glaring at Diamond. By his third spoonful he's groaning, "It's cold."

"Told you so," Diamond mocks as he tries to stifle his laughter. Platinum looks at Diamond, "Are you serious? When did this study come out? I didn't know about this."

"I have no idea," Diamond shrugs, "Ha, Pearl, your face is red. You sucker."

Pearl scoffs, "Uh, is not. Well- Duh, 'cuz it's freezing. Cold makes your face turn red. Stupid."

Platinum passes her empty bowl to Diamond. Any embarrassment at Pearl hyper-focusing on her is overshadowed by her interest in Diamond's scientific knowledge.

"Pearl has ADHD? That explains a lot, actually," she murmurs. Pearl tosses his cold bowl toward Diamond and fidgets as Platinum and Diamond both stare at him.

"You like Missy, huh, bud?" Diamond grins. Pearl's cheeks burn.

"What? No! I wasn't even hyper-fuh. Hyper-focusing or whatever. I'm gonna go train. You guys suck," Pearl stumbles to his feet, snatches his bag, and all but sprints off into the dark forest.

"This really explains so much," Platinum says to Diamond, seemingly oblivious to any hint of an implied romantic situation, "I'm surprised I hadn't picked up on this before. It's so obvious now."

"That's Pearl," Diamond finishes off what's left in Pearl's bowl, "He's a little crazy."


End file.
